Only Time Will Tell
by TTY7
Summary: Time is a funny thing. Sometimes it moves quickly. Sometimes it moves at a snail's pace. Time can be a period in which nothing changes, but it always holds the potential to bring something new. Within the confines of time, people are forced to evolve and change, even those who thought themselves set on one path and one path only. (One-shot Rin/Shirou Post UBW)


A/N: Hello everyone. Today's story is a short Fate/Stay Night one-shot focusing on Rin/Shirou after the events of the 5th Holy Grail War have ended. (In other words, this one-shot is my version of the ending that we got in the Unlimited Blade Works TV series that just finished airing about a month ago.) It's a somewhat humorous and fluffy piece that I hope you all will enjoy. (Because we all know how dark the Fate series can be.)

Disclaimer: I do not own the brilliance that is Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Zero, or any of it's subsequent series/spinoffs. (I mean seriously, there's a lot of them. I can't even keep up.)

Warnings: In my mind (because the TV series painted it this way and I don't know much about the original visual novels for which the show was derived) Rin and Shirou are not romantically involved prior to their college days. So, what's depicted below is basically how they became a legit couple after Unlimited Blade Works ended. Anyway, that's all I have to say. Enjoy the story!

* * *

"Sherou!"

Rin Tohsaka let out an audible groan of frustration at the sound of Luvia Edelfelt's voice. With narrowing aquamarine eyes she pivoted on her heel to fix her glare on the unwelcome newcomer while making a point to stand between the annoyance and the naïve, overwhelmingly kind, red-headed male behind her. These instances of running into the vapid, blonde bimbo were becoming more and more frequent as of late and all because of Shirou Emiya's inane ability to attract female attention everywhere he went. Rin wasn't sure if it was because of his approachable personality or if it had to do with his obliviousness to the blatant passes boorish women like Edelfelt threw at him. Whatever the case may be, Rin had begrudgingly accepted that her apprentice was a bit of a ladies magnet.

Unfortunately for all those ladies in line waiting for a chance with the red-head, he only had eyes for her. Rin took a bit of satisfaction in knowing she had won the game for his heart long before it could even start. Of course, upon thinking that a scarlet blush briefly rose on her face which made her rapidly souring mood quicken its downward spiral because all in all, having to constantly stand between him and these desperate women was getting tiresome and more importantly, aggravating.

Thankfully, with the blonde bounding down the long hall in her usual, clumsy way, Rin's anger would have a proper target.

"Good morning, Sherou!" Luvia began, completely ignoring the brunette girl standing between them. "You are doing well, yes?"

Rin didn't appreciate the unspoken jibe, but instead of speaking she simply glared at her, thinking that perhaps if she followed suit and just ignored the pompous Edelfelt heir, she and Shirou could continue about their day.

Shirou, as per the norm, smiled easily for the blonde. "Yes, it looks like it's going to be a really beautiful day outside."

"Yes, here in England beautiful spring days like this are hard to come by," Luvia continued, pointedly avoiding eye contact with the evil aura radiating from Rin's eyes, but this didn't stop her from pointing at the brunette when she uttered her next sentence. "I'm sure that with her, it's especially difficult to enjoy pretty days."

Rin was ready to yell out a fiery retort to the blonde's audacious words, but before she could, the girl pressed a hand to Rin's shoulder and practically swatted her away with the force of her mana. The brunette withstood it easily, but her mental stability began to crack when she saw the blonde reaching to hold Shirou's hands. The clueless male didn't stop her advance despite looking slightly annoyed as he glanced over at his raging sensei. Rin could read the expression easily. It basically said, " _Must the two of you fight every single day? Can't we all just get along_?"

Poor, naïve, little Shirou. He just doesn't get it, does he?

"Why don't you ditch the barbarian and come along with me today?" Luvia asked, leaning closer to him as she brought his hands close to her chest. Lowering the volume of her voice she added, "I'm sure that I could teach you things she couldn't."

The heir to the Tohsaka name didn't miss the seductive tone in Luvia's voice and as clueless as Shirou tended to be in situations like this, even he wasn't able to be oblivious to the clear innuendo created from the girl's tone and doe-like expression.

A blush was beginning to make itself known on Shirou's face. "Well, I um..."

Rin didn't give Emiya the opportunity to say anything more than that for the following list of reasons.

One: That presumptuous and thick-headed Luvia Edelfelt needed that smirk wiped off her face.

Two: As far as she is concerned, the only person allowed to make the emotionally blank canvas that was Shirou Emiya blush is Rin Tohsaka.

Three: Shoving Rin Tohsaka aside like she's some pesky fly deserves instantaneous death anyhow.

And so, with a screeching cry of anger while Shirou was stuttering out a response to Luvia's misplaced and ineffective seduction, Rin, with her magic crests fully charged, commenced a full frontal assault on the blonde. Luvia darted out of the way of a blast aimed at her head, but was unable to dodge the fierce punch that smacked into her chest less than a second later.

"Who do you think you are, huh!?" Rin screamed, following up her first punch with another serious of blows. "GET IT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL ALREADY! SHIROU IS MINE!"

For his part, Shirou let his jaw drop a little. "Tohsaka?"

Rin didn't even hear him. She was too busy letting out all her pent up rage on the blonde who was only just starting to put up a resistance.

"My, my," she began, using her forearm to block an oncoming attack. "Who knew you had such an attachment to him? Perhaps I took my teasing a bit too far this time. Still, don't you realize by now that fighting in the middle of the hallway just makes you look...how should I say this...foolish?"

"Believe me, you're the one that's foolish Miss Edelfelt," Rin taunted, an evil smirk reminiscent of the fake priest she despised tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Make one more pass at Shirou in my presence again. Please. I dare you to. Give me one last incentive to kill you like I've wanted to since the day we met."

A fire lit up in Luvia's blue eyes while a chuckle of amusement slipped from her lips. "Gladly, Miss Tohsaka." Shifting her gaze she waved at a dumbfounded Shirou. "Sherou! Let's go on a date tomorrow!"

And with those words, the epic clash began.

Unfortunately for the school, neither of the two girls bothered to take their fight to the downstairs gym like they normally would.

* * *

A few hours later

"Ouch! That hurts!"

Shirou Emiya sighed and continued to press the cloth soaked in peroxide to the small cut on Rin's face. She had come out of the fierce battle with Luvia with only minor scrapes and scratches which is more than what could be said for the school. In the wake of their fight, half of the first floor had been wrecked which meant the building would need some serious renovations to fix the damage the two girls had done. Normally such massive destruction would call for expulsion, but given Rin and Luvia's family names, the two of them were simply suspended from classes for the remainder of the month. Since Shirou is Rin's apprentice, he ended up sharing the punishment with her. He figured that was for the best with how tense Rin had been lately. Some time away from classes might actually be a good thing for the both of them.

However, being suspended also meant that the two of them weren't allowed to stay in the living quarters for the remainder of the month either. So, Shirou would have to pack his things and hers, book a hotel for them to stay at for the time being, and then get a part-time job. Sure, Rin was sitting on reserves of money, but Shirou felt that he had a certain responsibility towards her. He knew Rin could support herself fine and didn't really need his help, but he still wanted to offer it anyway. In this case, he could help by paying for their month long stay at some grand hotel because Rin obviously wouldn't settle for less than the best.

Although, now that he thought about it, perhaps that thought wasn't a fair assessment, given the words she had spoken earlier.

 _Get it through your thick skull already! Shirou is mine!_

Yeah, she was definitely settling in this case. Still, he couldn't help but feel a small bit of happiness in knowing that Rin had finally developed some form of feelings for him. Having harbored feelings toward her for years on end, it was a nice feeling to know that she cared enough to get jealous. It's just unfortunate that the jealousy ended with half the building up in smoke.

Rin squirmed as he continued to tend to her small wounds. "This whole thing is so asinine that it makes me want to go downstairs and pluck that stupid girl's eyes out."

"You really seem to hate her," Shirou observed.

"What ever do you mean?" Rin asked, sarcasm etched in her voice. "It's not as if I try to kill her at every opportunity." With a huff she turned her face away from him, cutting off Shirou's access to the cuts he needed to put bandages on. "Sometimes I wonder why I ever bothered to get you here. All you've done is cause me trouble." She paused for a second, a contemplative expression crossing her features. "Actually, you've been trouble for me since the start of that Holy Grail war. Ever since then, I just can't seem to shake you."

Shirou didn't respond verbally, instead choosing to lift his hand towards the side of her face. Without protest she allowed him to gently twist her face in his direction again so he could continue with what he was doing before.

A few minutes of silence passed between them as he pressed a Band-Aid to the right side of her face before moving to bandage the cuts on her arm. It was a comfortable silence that allowed the red-head to work without pause. Rin still looked peeved, but during the minutes of silence her sour expression of petty rage evened out into a blank look of annoyance.

When Shirou felt it was safe to speak, he asked, "Why do you hate her so much?"

Rin's expression once again shifted into that of rage. For a few seconds, Shirou half-expected her to shoot at him with one of her mana blasts.

Thankfully after a solid minute of glaring, she sighed and said, "I would think that it would be obvious. She bothers me, especially when she gets anywhere near you. Actually, if not for your involvement I think she'd be somewhat tolerable."

"And how do I contribute to this madness exactly?"

Rin outright scowled at him as he finished bandaging her arm. Another scarlet blush rose over her delicate cheeks.

"Do I really need to spell it out for you?"

Shirou chuckled, smiling while rising to a fully erect position behind the chair she was sitting in. "No, I suppose not. I know jealousy when I see it."

Rin's reaction was immediate. "J-jealousy!"

The red-headed boy blinked as Rin violently lifted herself up from the chair to stalk over to him.

"I am not jealous of a loud-mouthed, air-headed dingbat!" she shouted, making her point clear with every jab of her index finger against the center of his chest. "The mere insinuation that I would be threatened by her presence is downright ludicrous. She's just some love-struck daisy pining over my apprentice! I will not stand for such outright disrespect of my property!"

With the raise of an eyebrow, Shirou found that he wasn't sure how to take that last statement. "Property?"

"Yes!" Rin roared, her aquamarine eyes ablaze with fury. "You are an investment, baka! You proved yourself worthy of my tutelage during the Holy Grail war. The way you did it was idiotic half the time, but you still showed that you might have what it takes to be a proper magus. That's why I brought you here. I'm not about to let you be distracted by some hussy."

Shirou hung his head, an exhale of exhaustion escaping him while he moved past the temperamental woman. Groaning as he sat down in the chair she had been sitting in previously, he muttered, "So what you're saying is that while we're here, you are basically my master. Am I right?"

Rin didn't bother to turn around. "Sure. That's about right. I'm your master and you are the servant."

"Well, I guess Archer and I have yet another thing in common then, don't we?"

It was an offhanded comment that he uttered without thinking and it wasn't until the silence began to drag that he realized the pain he might have stirred up by mentioning his future self.

For her part, Rin stood quietly, reminiscing on her former servant and the promise she made to him.

She knew that the promise was part of the reason she wanted Shirou close by all the time. She wanted to make sure she was in a position where she could look after him and possibly change his mind thus changing his fate.

But, having spent so much time with him in the last year, Rin couldn't say that her promise to Archer was the only reason she wanted Shirou near anymore.

"Tohsaka, I'm..." Shirou started to apologize for his words, but trailed off when Rin seated herself atop his lap, her arms folding around his neck in an embrace before he could blink. He stared wide-eyed at the table in front of him for a long moment, his body stiff from the sudden contact. However, after the initial shock wore off, he folded one of his arms around her waist and the other wrapped around her upper torso, forming a protective hold.

"Don't apologize, Shirou," she whispered. "I'm the one who should apologize. I know I cause you trouble too. It's just...I made a promise and I don't want anything to stand in the way of that."

The young man didn't need for her to explain further. He closed his eyes.

"You miss him, don't you?"

Rin thought about it for a moment. She knew that a part of her did miss her Archer, but at the same time, she didn't think much about him these days, mainly because while Archer and Shirou were different people, they were more or less two sides of the same man. When she thought of it that way, it was silly to miss someone who was sitting right in front of her with their arms wrapped around her body like a warm blanket.

Shirou waited, thinking that it'd be terrible irony if Rin was in love with a future version of himself that didn't exist yet. It's no wonder why Archer was so bitter.

"Not really," she finally answered, surprising him. "I have you to fill the void. I'm just afraid...to lose you is all. Not to that brat Luvia, but...just in general." She paused to swallow the lump of nervousness that had formed in her throat. "Every day I watch you create new weapons and re-create old ones that remind me of what you might become. I promised Archer that I would give you support and be the kind of person you could lean on. It was the only thing I could do for him. He couldn't be saved and I knew that I wouldn't be able to sway you from your ideals either because they're part of your nature. All I can do is give you proper training so that you won't be beaten by anyone."

His grip tightened around her waist, but Rin barely felt it. She pressed on.

"I can take pride in knowing you'll be the hero you always wanted to be, but that doesn't erase the fact that you'll eventually leave me behind." Exhaling quickly she added, "You could say that I don't want you leaving me prematurely. It's one thing to lose someone when it's expected and another when it's sudden. I'm sure you can understand what I mean."

Thoughts of the fire and of Kiritsugu filled Shirou's mind for a moment. "Yeah, I do."

Rin smiled sadly. "I know that someday we'll have to part ways, but..."

"If you don't want that to happen, it doesn't have to."

The brunette wasn't sure if she had heard right. With a look of puzzlement she leaned away from Shirou in order to get a good look at him.

In all her life she had never seen him stare at her so intensely. The expression literally took her breath away.

"A hero isn't a person who will continue on a path he knows will hurt someone, especially if that person is someone he loves," he stated, lifting his arms so that his hands rested on her shoulders. "Tohsaka, I know you hate this about me, but I simply don't live for my own sake. For years I lived to fulfill a promise I made to Kiritsugu. I lived to carry on his dream out of gratitude and respect for him, and even now, knowing where that road ends, I don't want to give up the hope of making a world where everyone can be happy." He closed his eyes. "However, after everything we've been through together, this empty heart of mine won't let me travel down that road if I know that it'll hurt you in the end, and what that tells me is that perhaps there's only one person I need to be a hero for."

Rin felt something odd stirring in her chest as she continued to stare into his warm amber eyes. "Shirou..."

"My feelings for you haven't changed," he continued, ignoring the widening of her aqua irises. "In the time that we've spent together, those feelings have only grown stronger." His grip on her shoulders tightened again, his stare growing in intensity. "Rin Tohsaka, if you ask me to I'll be a hero for you and you only, but you need to tell me if that's what you want."

The boy was so earnest that it was almost laughable, but Rin didn't laugh or even smirk.

Actually, when she got right down to it, she was downright pissed off.

"I wouldn't want you to give up fulfilling your promise just for my sake," Rin said coldly after a long moment. "The pain just comes with accepting who you are, Emiya. I don't want you to change your mind for me. If you change your mind, I want it to be because that's what you wanted. And I want you to be with me only if you actually want to be with me, not because you feel obligated to be with me to spare my feelings!"

Now Shirou just looked frustrated. "I do want to be with you. That is literally the one thing that I truly want for myself."

That odd feeling in her chest returned, her voice coming out in a soft rasp when she asked, "Really? Y-you do?"

"Of course I do," Shirou answered, watching as she bent her head forward so that her face wouldn't be in his view. "I love you, Rin."

Rin continued to stare down at his chest without moving or saying anything. Shirou usually didn't mind waiting, but the second a ray of the setting sun caught the edge of one of the tears streaming down her face, he felt his insides do a somersault in its panic.

"H-hey!" he exclaimed, sliding his hands gently down the sides of her arms. "What's wrong? D-don't cry..."

"Shut up, baka," she sobbed out, finally lifting her waterlogged eyes to meet his. "Y-you talk...too much."

Shirou was seriously confused by that point. "I'm...sorry?"

Without any warning, Rin pressed her hands to the sides of his face and leaned in, crashing her lips to his before he could properly register what had just happened. Of course, once his brain caught up with the moment, he closed his eyes and returned her rushed kiss in a more gentle fashion.

She pulled back briefly to whisper that she was going to pay him back for making her cry again. The brunette would have ranted on about that for another minute, but Shirou didn't let her and instead pulled her back in for another kiss. In between their exchange of kisses she kept muttering things like, "You jerk" and "I hate you", but the red-head could easily decode the meaning behind those words. After all, he knew Rin well enough by now to know that she would never actually admit to loving him out loud. She was kind of abrasive in that way, but he didn't mind it. In some ways, he loved her all the more for it because it prompted him to work that much harder to please her.

She was definitely a handful, but Shirou felt that he could deal with that.

The two of them were still in the chair embracing one another an hour later, but Rin had fallen asleep on him at some point. Silence enveloped them and carried them into the night as Shirou sat there running his fingers tenderly through her dark locks of hair. The sky outside the window was still a soft blue, but in a few minutes darkness would descend, painting world and their room in darkness. The memory of their suspension reminded Shirou of the packing that had to be done.

Careful not to disturb the sleeping magus, Shirou lifted her lithe body into his arms before slowly getting up from the chair. Carrying her bridal style, he padded over to her bed as quietly as he could. Then, by gradual increments he lowered her onto the mattress while also pulling back the comforter and sheets. Rin curled into a half fetal position as he tucked her in, smiling contentedly in her sleep.

"Goodnight, Rin" he whispered, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

Shirou started to get up from the bed when her hand began tugging at his sleeve. When he looked back he saw that her peaceful expression had been replaced with one of annoyance.

"Stay," she ordered, barely audible as she scooted over in the bed, albeit unconsciously.

"I need to pack our things," he told her, barely making a move to pull himself away from her grasp. "You'll yell at me in the morning if our things aren't ready to go."

Another tired moan escaped her. "No I won't. Get in here. It's cold."

She would yell at him tomorrow, Shirou was certain, but he couldn't exactly deny her of anything now could he?

In a way similar to how his future self would, Shirou let out a soft chuckle of amusement as he slipped under the covers next to his master.

"Is that better?" He asked this after wrapping an arm around her waist.

Rin returned his embrace, her facial muscles relaxing as she did. "Yeah. Much."

In seconds the brunette was asleep again, but the red-head was awake for another hour, content to watch her sleep until his body demanded that he rest.

For the first time that he could recall, Shirou Emiya fell asleep with a smile on his face.

The following morning, Rin would undoubtedly scream at him while bounding about the large dormitory, panicking about how nothing had been packed. Later that morning, she and Shirou would run into Luvia who would attempt another pass at Shirou, though this time the boy would be more prompt about shrugging off her advances before Rin could blow her top.

Time is a funny thing. Sometimes it moves quickly. Sometimes it moves at a snail's pace. Time can be a period in which nothing changes, but it always holds the potential to bring something new. Within the confines of time, people are forced to evolve and change, even those who thought themselves set on one path and one path only.

Even fate must bend to the will of time. And who knows? A romance destined to end in tragedy may end happily ever after instead.

Only time will tell.

* * *

A/N: And that ends this one-shot. Be sure to let me know what you guys thought in that review box down below. Special thanks to the many members of the Fate fanbase who introduced me to this series and to many of the amazing stories that ultimately inspired this work. I really appreciate you all. Thank you! God bless and have a great day!


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